楞伽阿跋多羅寶經序
Preface to the Laṅkāvatāra Sūtra
朝奉郎新差知登州軍州兼管內勸農事騎都尉借緋蘇軾書
Calligraphy by Su Shi, Magistrate of Dengzhou
《楞伽阿跋多羅寶經》——先佛所說微妙第一真實了義，故謂之佛語心品。祖師達磨以付二祖曰：「吾觀震旦所有經教，惟《楞伽》四卷可以印心。」祖祖相授，以為心法。如醫之《難經》，句句皆理、字字皆法。後世達者神而明之，如盤走珠、如珠走盤，無不可者。若出新意，而棄舊學以為無用，非愚無知，則狂而已。近歲學者各宗其師，務從簡便，得一句一偈，自謂了證，至使婦人孺子抵掌嬉笑爭談禪悅。高者為名，下者為利，餘波末流無所不至，而佛法微矣。譬如俚俗醫師，不由經論直授方藥以之療病，非不或中；至於遇病，輒應懸斷死生，則與知經學古者不可同日語矣。世人徒見其有一至之功，或捷於古人，因謂《難經》不學而可，豈不誤哉！
The Lankavatara Sutra—a scripture spoken by the ancient Buddhas, supremely subtle, the foremost and ultimate true meaning—is thus called the "Buddha's Heart-Mind Chapter." Patriarch Bodhidharma entrusted it to the Second Patriarch, saying: "I have observed all the teachings in China; only the four fascicles of the Lankavatara can serve to seal the mind." From patriarch to patriarch, it was passed down as the essential mind-dharma. Like the medical classic *Classic of Difficult Issues*, every sentence holds principle, every word contains a method. Later generations of enlightened ones will comprehend it with spiritual clarity—like a disk rolling a pearl, or a pearl rolling on a disk—nothing is impossible. But if someone, in pursuit of novel ideas, discards the old learning as useless, they are either foolish and ignorant, or simply arrogant. In recent years, students each follow their own teacher, insisting on convenience and shortcuts. Grasping a single phrase or verse, they claim to have fully realized and proven it, to the point where even women and children clap and laugh, competing to speak of the joy of Chan. The lofty seek fame, the base seek profit; the ripples and remnants spread everywhere, and the Buddha-dharma grows faint. This is like a vulgar village doctor who, without studying the scriptures and treatises, directly hands out prescriptions to treat illness—not that he never hits the mark. But when it comes to facing a disease and immediately, upon contact, determining life or death with certainty, he cannot be mentioned in the same breath as one who understands the scriptures and has studied the ancients. Ordinary people, seeing only his occasional success, sometimes swifter than the ancients, then conclude that the *Classic of Difficult Issues* can be mastered without study—how mistaken that is!
《楞伽》義輒幽𦕈，文字簡古。讀者或不能句，而況遺文以得義，忘義以了心者乎？此其所以寂寥於世，幾廢而僅存也。太子太保樂全先生張公安道，以廣大心，得清淨覺。慶曆中嘗為滁州，至一僧舍，偶見此經，入手恍然如獲舊物。開卷未終，夙障冰解，細視筆畫，手迹宛然。悲喜太息，從是悟入，常以經首四偈發明心要。軾遊於公之門三十年矣，今年二月過南都，見公於私第。公時年七十九，幻滅都盡，惠光渾圜，而軾亦老於憂患百念灰冷。公以為可教者，乃授此經，且以錢三十萬使印施於江淮間。而金山長老佛印大師了元曰：「印施有盡，若書而刻之則無盡。」軾乃為書之，而元使其侍者曉機走錢塘，求善工刻之板，遂以為金山常住。
The *Lankavatara Sutra* is profound and mysterious in its meaning, yet its language is terse and archaic. Some readers cannot even parse its sentences, let alone grasp its deeper meaning through the words, and then transcend meaning to awaken the mind. This is why the sutra has been neglected in the world, nearly lost, and only barely preserved.
Zhang Andao, the Grand Guardian and Duke of Leshan, possessed a vast mind and attained the pure enlightened awareness. During the Qingli era, when he served as the governor of Chuzhou, he visited a monk’s dwelling and happened upon this sutra. As he held it, he felt a sudden familiarity, as if recovering a long-lost treasure. Before he finished opening the scroll, his lifelong karmic obstacles melted away like ice. Examining the brushstrokes closely, he saw that the handwriting was unmistakably familiar—feelings of sorrow and joy overwhelmed him. From that moment, he was liberated and realized the truth. He often used the first four verses of the sutra to illuminate the essential teachings of the mind.
I, Su Shi, have studied under the Duke’s guidance for thirty years. This year, in the second month, I passed through the southern capital and visited him at his private residence. The Duke was then seventy-nine years old—his illusions had dissolved completely, and his enlightened radiance shone perfectly and whole. I, too, had grown old amidst hardship, with all my worldly thoughts turned cold and dead. The Duke saw in me a worthy student, so he gave me this sutra, along with thirty thousand coins to have it printed and distributed throughout the Jiang-Huai regions. But the Zen Master Liaoyuan, the Abbot of Gold Mountain and Buddha Seal, said, “Printing and distributing is finite; carving it on wooden blocks is infinite.” So I wrote it out for carving, and Master Yuan sent his attendant Xiaoji to Qiantang to find a skilled craftsman to engrave the blocks. Thus, the sutra became a permanent treasure of Gold Mountain Monastery.
元豐八年九月九日
On the ninth day of the ninth month in the eighth year of the Yuanfeng era.
楞伽阿跋多羅寶經卷第一
Lankavatara Sutra, Chapter 1
宋天竺三藏求那跋陀羅譯
Translated by the Indian Tripitaka Master Guṇabhadra of the Song Dynasty